IllusionCatalyst is a free brand new set of instruments designed to increase artistic expression and productivity in Autodesk 3ds Max.

IC.Shape for organic polygonal modeling. Draw and erase mesh edges like tracing lines with a pencil on paper, then deform and relax the surface like shaping clay by hands.

IC.Face for facial rigging and animation. Bring characters to life letting them express every emotion and mood with a full range of controllers. No more gummy faces allowed.

IC.Mime for keyframing and animation. Take a step and get the other one for free, control the flow of the action and each pose more easily. Forget about motion brakes.

Check them out at: www.illusioncatalyst.com (http://www.illusioncatalyst.com)

Be the first to try them!

stage-gr

04 April 2008, 10:04 AM

this set of tools is looking awesome! i am downloading it right now and will try it ASAP:thumbsup:

steveblake

04 April 2008, 10:15 AM

Great work - looking forward to testing this out. Thanks for sharing!

mortas may

04 April 2008, 11:24 AM

any video tuts???

Mm6

stage-gr

04 April 2008, 12:08 PM

any video tuts???

Mm6
I saw that there is a flash animation next to each function in the "full documentation" page of each tool...Just press the play button

romi

04 April 2008, 02:08 PM

there's a lot of nice tools here. thanks for sharing these tools!

cheers,

SyncViewS

04 April 2008, 04:02 PM

I had to strip out local documentation because of bandwidth limitations. It now provides links to online docs and requires an active internet connection. I'm sorry, I didn't expect such wide interest in my work.

Thank you very much.

To mortas may: I thought about making some video tutorials, but it's a really hard work. It's in the "to do" list, in the meanwhile experiment, and for IC.Face try to follow the "How to...". Please remember to save often, or at least before any major change :)

DogBreath

04 April 2008, 09:40 PM

Very nice tools, thankyou, you have put in a lot of work, even in your website. Are you working with Max and what are you working on now. (Muscles?).

mortas may

04 April 2008, 12:09 PM

To mortas may: I thought about making some video tutorials, but it's a really hard work. It's in the "to do" list, in the meanwhile experiment, and for IC.Face try to follow the "How to...". Please remember to save often, or at least before any major change :)[/QUOTE]

ok.. nice one mate!!

ThirdEye

04 April 2008, 03:58 PM

A gazillion of very useful tools for free, i think you did a terrific job with them, i'm sure people will recognize the hard work.

Pixelbear

04 April 2008, 05:30 PM

Golden stuff here. Many thanks!

JCAddy

04 April 2008, 05:54 PM

I love this! Seems very much like NEX for maya, which we needed in Max.

Ravenslayer

04 April 2008, 07:51 PM

this is exactly what i needed tnx

MisterE

04 April 2008, 07:56 PM

Unless I'm doing something wrong, this doesn't seem compatible with Max 2008. It "installs" okay, but when I restart Max there is no "IllusionCataylst" under the "Customize User Interface" panel. Nor does it work when I attempt to manually load it under "MAXScript->Run" (or "Open").

SyncViewS

04 April 2008, 08:07 PM

Thank you very much for your interest in IllusionCatalyst and kindess in feedbacks. I was a little shocked by seeing it plugged in the frontpage. Never thought to reach such a spot... so thank you again. I hope you like the scripts, and won't be disappointed.

I never expected so much attention, and I've surpassed my monthly allowed bandwidth by far in two days. I couldn't get in touch with my provider for an upgrade because it's Saturday. I guess the site illusioncatalyst.com could be automatically shut down in any moment. On Monday morning (Central European Time) it will be up again. So hang in there! :)

Thanks for understanding.

Staszek

04 April 2008, 08:27 PM

Thank YOU!

Greate tools.
It is something what should be in the max in standard...

AndHolzmeister

04 April 2008, 09:53 PM

Hi syncviews, i took the liberty to place a mirror for you in my website, if you wanna use it, you can link it on your site untill you get this bandwidth problem resolved:

http://www.animation.art.br/temp/IC_1_setup.rar

Great stuff by the way, thank you very much, great tools! need time to check out all of them

Readme2

04 April 2008, 11:05 PM

Thanks :) very usefull and convenient :P

Cral

04 April 2008, 11:38 PM

I can't install it :( using max 2008

DeadlyFreeze

04 April 2008, 11:45 PM

arg nm, 3dsmax9+

liuxw

04 April 2008, 12:01 AM

thx i am going to try it

sathe

04 April 2008, 02:44 AM

I would use thos tool for the "Keep quads on draw" Features alone .

Thanks very much,

I apreciate your efforts alot!

diginime

04 April 2008, 03:10 AM

wow, awesome tool! although i'm new to max, but this really helps me a lot in modeling. Thans:)

Cral : Works fine for me in 3dsMax 2008. :)

MisterE

04 April 2008, 03:16 AM

wow, awesome tool! although i'm new to max, but this really helps me a lot in modeling. Thans:)

Cral : Works fine for me in 3dsMax 2008. :)

Then perhaps you can shed some light on how you got it up and running, step-by-step. We'd appreciate it.

Asad3D

04 April 2008, 03:55 AM

Thanks a lot

it's really nice tools i'll try it .

r3mix

04 April 2008, 05:06 AM

Woah! I love this! It really has a nice workflow to it and makes sense. The Shape toolset is awesome. Excellent work :)

warpy

04 April 2008, 05:34 AM

is there a way to put the button on the utilities section or have it not float around, but placed on the side of the screen constantly ?

i got it running by run script > the mzp that is inside the rar file that the previous guy posted.
or do this manually with the zip file from the site (the instalation there is f-ed up imo)
copy all the icon + other 4 directories into max/scripts/illusioncatalyst and x86 dll into max/plugins and also the text file into max/plugins
go to customize user interface-tools find illusion catalyst in the categories and pull the button on to the main menu bar.

Psotek

04 April 2008, 05:46 AM

These are trully brilliant. Thanks so much.

theblahblah

04 April 2008, 06:27 AM

rockymaru , Cral: Open the Customize User Interface panel, go to the toolbars tab. Then drag the IllusionCatalyst command from the action list on the left to any toolbar. Click it and you're good to go. And dont forget to save the new UI. You could also assign a hotkey to the command in the hotkeys tab so you wont have to clutter up your interface.

And Enrico this stuff is brilliant!!!

SyncViewS

04 April 2008, 07:25 AM

First and foremost thank to you all.

About some issues experienced by 3ds Max 2008 users:
I've seen the installation gives some errors at the end of the process, but it has no effect on the final result. Errors are about the inability to remove some temporary directories needed during the installation process. If you wish to remove them you can find them here:

If you want to run for a manual installation in 3ds max 2008, all you need to do is open the IC_1_setup.mzp file with winzip or winrar, or similar program (the mzp format is none but a .zip file renamed to be run by 3ds Max) and extract the ONLY IllusionCatalyst directory with all its subdirs to your startup scripts folder, that you can find here:

..\<3ds Max root>\Scripts\Startup

In 3ds Max 2008 the AVGuard DLX coded by Larry Minton is not required, since it has been integrated into standard Maxscript.

1. Go to Customize > Customize User Interface...
2. Choose the Toolbar panel, and under Category: IllusionCatalyst.
3. You can then create a new toolbar from the right side of the panel and drag over the void toolbar the IllusionCatalyst action from the left list. It will create a button.
3b. You can otherwise drag the IllusionCatalyst action from the left list to the Main Toolbar on top of the screen.

By clicking that button, you open the IllusionCatalyst floating panel.

You can customize the appearence of the created button a bit, by right clicking it and choosing "Edit Button Appearance...".

I hope I've been of help

If you wish to redistribute the script, please keep the original .mzp format. It doesn't need to be compressed again since it's a renamed zip.

Thank you, enjoy :)

p.s.
I've just overtaken the allowed bandwidth by about 200%... I don't really know when the illusioncatalyst.com will be shut down. Anyway, please hang in there, it will be back as soon as possible.

Cral

04 April 2008, 01:13 PM

it's working now. thank you :D
btw is it possible to use hotkeys for the functions?

BardurM

04 April 2008, 01:58 PM

Hi.. and THANKS alot for this tool :D its brilliant..

but like someone else also asked.. is it possible to place the tool/menu on the left side of the screen (like Polyboost and such).. so that it isnt just a float toolbox.. ?

Regards and thanks once again for this great tool

SyncViewS

04 April 2008, 02:22 PM

IllusionCatalyst comes as "dialog", a sort of floating panel. It cannot actually be docked at the side of the screen. I will ponder this idea for future development, along with a macroscript for each IC.Shape instrument, to allow shorcut association and grouping into a single quad menu.

The script reproduces some base functions to be able to comfortably work in 3ds Max "Expert Mode" (View > Expert Mode, or shortcut Ctrl+X) and mainly in a single perspective or orthographic view.

I truly appreciate any idea and suggestion you would like to give. They will be taken into account for next releases.

Thank you.

Pollysong

04 April 2008, 02:36 PM

This looks really good. My main concern with MAX has always been the polygon modelling tools. Which is why I usually use Modo and have a noob question; How do I use this? I create a sphere, bring up the floater and everything in the "shape" menu is greyed out. How do I actually use the tools on a mesh?

far

04 April 2008, 02:40 PM

Thank you very much for sharing this, amazing tool :)

ThirdEye

04 April 2008, 02:43 PM

This looks really good. My main concern with MAX has always been the polygon modelling tools. Which is why I usually use Modo and have a noob question; How do I use this? I create a sphere, bring up the floater and everything in the "shape" menu is greyed out. How do I actually use the tools on a mesh?

Have you converted the sphere to an editable poly?

Pollysong

04 April 2008, 03:05 PM

Have you converted the sphere to an editable poly?

No, I converted it to editable mesh. Now it works. Thanks!

eek

04 April 2008, 06:32 PM

IllusionCatalyst comes as "dialog", a sort of floating panel. It cannot actually be docked at the side of the screen. I will ponder this idea for future development, along with a macroscript for each IC.Shape instrument, to allow shorcut association and grouping into a single quad menu.

The script reproduces some base functions to be able to comfortably work in 3ds Max "Expert Mode" (View > Expert Mode, or shortcut Ctrl+X) and mainly in a single perspective or orthographic view.

I truly appreciate any idea and suggestion you would like to give. They will be taken into account for next releases.

Thank you.

Register the dialog when you open it:

on testRoll open do
(
cui.registerDialog testRoll .. etc etc..
)

AndHolzmeister

04 April 2008, 07:29 PM

Sorry SyncViewS, i did noot mean to redistribute it, but to give you a mirror so you could use it in your own site, so it would give you some extra bandwidth, leaving only the html files and gif/jpg from the site to count for your bandwidth avoiding it to be cut offline. If you want i can delete the post, about the file been in rar format, i thought it would be better as it is a known format, and people dont get worried to download. I cannot change it right now as i am travelling, and does not have access to ftp.

SyncViewS

04 April 2008, 08:17 PM

Don't worry AndHolzmeister, I could understand your intentions, and appreciate them. My only concern was that someone could think to have to manually install it because of the rar format, don't understanding that an mzp can be simply dragged onto 3ds Max to start the installation process.

It seems incredible, but illusioncatalyst.com is still online despite the bandwidth limit surpassed by very far. In a few hours I'll be able to get in contact with the internet provider to set the hosting upgarde.

Thank you very much for your support :)

Thanks eek, I overlooked this feature during development, that's why I appreciate ideas and feedbacks.

MaxCapacitor

04 April 2008, 11:34 PM

Hmm, I get a "MAXScript Rollout Handler Exception" when I click on the "Shape" button. The error makes IC.Shape rollout unaccessible to me but the other 2 are fine. This is after having had manually installed it on 3dsMax8 (couldn't install it the 1st way because of errors).

The "Face" and "Mime" buttons works fine... as long as I haven't clicked the "Shape" button before it:
MAXScript Rollout Handler Exception: -- Runtime error: callbacks.removeScripts() unrecognized callback type: #modPanelSubObjectLevelChanged
From what I can see in the grayed out options in IC.Shape, it has high potential in aiding me with my organic polygonal modeling. I just wished I was able to utilize them. I'm not that well versed in rigging and animation so I can't comment on how well the other 2 tools work.

jhuasdas87bd

04 April 2008, 01:28 AM

wow man! better than expensive plug-ins! thanks very very much :bowdown:

SyncViewS

04 April 2008, 09:56 AM

I got the hosting upgrade that should guarantee enough bandwidth for site consulting and downloads. Enjoy :)

to MaxCapacitor: IllusionCatalyst has been developed for 3ds Max 9+. The error you got was about the mismatching requirements. IC.Shape needs the AVGuard MAXScript Extension Package coded by Larry Minton. To make IllusionCatalyst work under 3ds Max 8 you can try to download it form ScriptSpot (http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/plugins/avguard-maxscript-extension-package-0), place it in the plugins folder of 3ds Max, then start or restart it to allow dlx loading. I don't know if it works, but you can give it a try and make us know.

Thanks

Ballo

04 April 2008, 10:33 AM

good work! thanks.

AnonyMouse

04 April 2008, 01:20 PM

Nice, but I have to copy manually the scripts in the folder (Scripts - Startup) looking in the error messages.
Also I can not use inflate, relax, drag, pinch and so on (in 3ds max 9). No any effect...

Swordslayer

04 April 2008, 03:01 PM

Hi, what a great tool! Thanks a lot :) Any chance you could add the functionality to Shift-click on subobject icons to convert the selection to only sub-objects that border the selection as it is in Editable Poly Modify panel, as well? Thanks in advance :)

BruceCLin

04 April 2008, 03:35 PM

The modeling tool looks amazing. Thank you for the hard work.

Bruce

RappyBMX

04 April 2008, 04:33 PM

looks grate gonna try this out right now :)

musashidan

04 April 2008, 05:22 PM

Wow!to release these excellent tools to the community for free is truly noble.I've just tested the Shape toolset which has brilliant potential.
Max's paint deformation is a royal pain in the arse.This toolset goes a long way towards solving this.Thank you very much.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Would it be possible to include spinners to interactively adjust brush size/strength? As again, Max's brush preset floater is a pain also.

Sorry,disregard:blush:I only just realised that there are hotkeys to achieve this.Even better:thumbsup:

blenderhead

04 April 2008, 05:35 PM

Invaluable. People's production times are going to shrink significantly. Could we get the videos on youtube, or maybe Holzmeister could host them if they are only tiny flash files? Most of the tools are really self explanitory and easy to use :) but since I'm not really a rigger or animator it would be cool to see the tools in action.

Excellent collection :)

frogspasm

04 April 2008, 06:01 PM

Looks like a cool toolset!
Is this compatible with Max 8 at all?

Edit: (At first glance, it looks like not)

Lukavi

04 April 2008, 06:10 PM

Very awesome tool, I just started using it and I can already see how it will imporve my workflow drastically. Thanks so much!

flatulentFuzz

04 April 2008, 07:46 PM

Wow...this is an amazing set of tools and its extremely nice of you to share them free.

Kudos to you

Glacierise

04 April 2008, 09:14 PM

Awesome, and would be even better if there were some shortcuts ;)

MaxCapacitor

04 April 2008, 06:20 AM

To SyncViewS: I tried putting both v9 and v7 (there wasn't a v8 unfortunately, the v9 readme suggests it's also a v8 beta) of the AVGuard MAXScript Extension Package .dlx file into 3dsMax8's plugins folder and neither one solved the error problem. Oh well, I still have 3dsMax8's trusty tools and modifiers. It's alright, thanks for the help though, much appreciated.

Haider of Sweden

04 April 2008, 07:31 AM

What the.. where did this come from?
This is so awesome. I havent tried all the features yet, but already I can tell that this is so cool.
The user-friendlyness is on top and now there is a reason to work in expert mode.

I am sure you have a long list of things-to-do.
So let me just help you make it longer :) and I hope my feedback make sense.

Transform

It feels like when I press shift, the rotation and scaling goes to fast. Maybe it would be better to decide if the user wants all three or only one of them.

Stack Status

Either an option or a default setting that you add: Turn off show cage. I allways turn of show cage, and for me it would have been better to have off as default.
Show end-result should maybe be colored when its pressed just to quickly indicate whether its pressed or not.
I use to use collapse pretty much. Maybe it could be added somwhere discreet, a down-arrow or something.
Then I wonder if you wouldnt either replace the TurboSmooth with the EditabelPoly's internal subdivider, or have a setting somewhere that lets the user decide either to activate the internal subdivider or having a TurboSmooth modifier.*

* I will check something in Max 2008 to validate this opinion. Maybe I withdraw this idea.
I remember that Max 2008 lets you aim and control the vertexes even when the EditPoly Subdiv is turned on. I am assuming that this only works when activating subdic, but I will try the modifier as well. If you can still catch the vertexes in show-end-result mode, then I withdraw my suggestion.

I will propably come back with more feed when I've worked with this tool some more.

SyncViewS

04 April 2008, 02:23 PM

Thanks to you all for the warm greetings, I really appreciate.

About 3ds Max 8 installation
I developed IllusionCatalyst for 3ds Max 9. I don't know if is it possible to run it on previous versions. IC.Shape needs the AVGuard MAXScript Extension Package coded by Larry Minton. It is available for 3ds Max 9, and for 3ds Max 7 which should work for 3ds Max 8 too. I don't know about it. MaxCapacitor gave it a try and found out it doesn't. Your experiences are welcome. AVGuard DLX can be found on ScriptSpot.
For any other installation issue on 3ds Max 9 or 2008, please refer to the "Installation" section in the "Download" page of illusioncatalyst.com (http://www.illusioncatalyst.com).

To blenderhead: I understand IC.Face and IC.Mime are not so straightforward as IC.Shape. Making a video tutorial is a hard work, but gives a completely different perspective than reading step by step instructions. I got it in the "to do" list. I'd like to make a video to show IC.Shape in action too, on a real model rather than on small square planes.

To Glacierise (and others): I'll try to include macroscripts for shortcuts association and quad menus grouping for IC.Shape in the first update along with docking feature. I have to solve some issues.

To Haider: Thanks for feedback and ideas, they're always welcome.
- When roto-scaling a selection, try to click on a point away from selection center and drag to gain a better control. When pressing shift it isn't required to click on a sub-object. (I hope this makes sense to you... uhm...)
- I evaluated Cage options during development, but found it isn't so frequently used to be in the panel. I had to fight with panel length and buttons dimension. I never wanted to reduce them to a bunch of pixels. Anyway future development could bring to collapsible sections, removing this limitation.
- I know about Show End Result. I was coding it to behave like a checkButton, until I found out there's not a way to read its status through MaxScript, so it cannot be set when selecting an Editable Poly. So I decided for a simple toggle. (If anyone knows how to do it, please tell me!).
- I use Collapse only to finalize the model. That's why I didn't think to add it to the panel, but to reach it in the Command Panel under the Modifier Stack. I guess it's better to know exactly what are you collapsing. Anyway is the same issue of Cage options, space and interface usability.
- One of the reasons for I chose TurboSmooth Modifier, believe it or not, is that Editable Poly NURMS Subdivision is slower with my tools, even if I thought it was exactly the same algorithm. Other reasons are tied to the use of thePainterInterface.

Thank you very much. Enjoy :)

Grayson

04 April 2008, 04:23 PM

I'm curious what you used to record those little flash videos in the documentation?

The more i play with the tools the more i love them.I just can't believe this came out of nowhere,for FREE!!
Any Max user that dosn't download and install this ASAP is a fool:D

Now with this on one side of the screen and polyboost on the other:we are unstoppable:buttrock:

Thanks again mate,your hard work and generosity is highly commendable.

If only the Autodesk R&D team had your talent and vision.lol.

tadmod

04 April 2008, 09:17 AM

this is AWESOME!!!

Haider of Sweden

04 April 2008, 12:07 PM

Thanks Enrico,

I take back the TurboSmooth modifier issue. Max 2008 didn't behave the way I thought it did. I thought you would be able to track a vertex even when the mesh is smoothed, like XSI for example.
But it seems like it didn't. You still need the cage which takes us to the second issue.
In case someone can help you find the code needed, I still think it might be usefull to be able to hide/show the cage.
I would like to have it hidden when you work with symmetry, while visible when you have the Turbosmooth turned on.

Collapse: I can live without having it so far. I need to try out IllusionCatalyst a little more.
Only time I use collapse is sometimes just after symmetry when the mesh changes in the middle. But thats so rare so that I could take my time exiting expert mode, and collapsing the traditional way.

So thanks again so far, and I hope I will come up with more ideas and suggestions.
Keep up the great work, I love it!

blenderhead

04 April 2008, 05:11 PM

To blenderhead: I understand IC.Face and IC.Mime are not so straightforward as IC.Shape. Making a video tutorial is a hard work, but gives a completely different perspective than reading step by step instructions. I got it in the "to do" list. I'd like to make a video to show IC.Shape in action too, on a real model rather than on small square planes.

Thanks...I don't think we need whole vid tuts, just run throughs of the tuts; I was referring the flash vids you've already recorded. Are they still available on your site? I couldn't find them. Thanks for taking the time to explain :)

Michaelws

04 April 2008, 11:28 PM

Looks fantastic...wondering if it is compatible with 2009?

And is there a way to obtain a copy fo the documentation for use offline? I cannot seem to copy the flash videos. thanks...a true gift to the max community.

gulio

05 May 2008, 03:13 PM

At first I also would like to say a big thanks to SyncViewS for this well promissing tool. But I´m wondering if I´m the only one who has problems to scroll the floating windows. The are simply to tall for my dualscreens which are running at 1024x768 and I cannot access the below parts of the them.
Btw. I´m using Max 9 extension 1:rev3 under win xp pro.

SyncViewS

05 May 2008, 10:15 AM

A big Thank You to everyone who took the time to download, install, try, like, dislike IllusionCatalyst. Another big one to ThirdEye, whose frontpage plug gave me the opportunity to reach a wider audience and gain a spot in the CGSociety Newsletter.

About 3ds Max version compatibility:

- I tested IllusionCatalyst on version 9 and 2008. It seems to occasionally throw some errors at the end of the installation on v2008 about the inability to remove some temporary empty directories, but the plug-in works fine. (see previous posts for details)

- IllusionCatalyst doesn't seem to work on version 8. I didn't try it. IC was developed on and for version 9 with the support of AVGuard DLX by Larry Minton.

- I did not try IllusionCatalyst on any of the two 3ds Max 2009 versions, but being it pure MaxScript, it should work fine, as MXS seems to always be backward compatible. Please report your experience.

- All these features (docking, shortcuts) have already been coded and are being tested right now, as you can read on the IllusionCatalyst website info page (http://www.illusioncatalyst.com/info.html). The new 1.1 version is like to be released in this month. It is a small upgrade, but speeds significantly up the workflow with IC.Shape.

As always, I wish to hear from you what you think about it and your ideas, to make IC grow better and better.

Thank you, have fun :)

gulio

05 May 2008, 12:19 PM

Thank you SyncViewS for the answer also via email to my "bugreport" regarding the window problem. So I´m left eagerly awaiting the next version. :thumbsup:

Diependaal

05 May 2008, 05:11 PM

First of great work, love your scipts.

Got a problem do, busy with your IC FACE for my facial rig.

Now with your guide, i made the controllers. but when creating a controller objec, that isnt at the spot of the drivers, when done with the setup, and going to rotate it, the controller doesnt rotate around it own axes, but around the drives.

And cant edit it by moving its pivot, did it a few times,but its the same setup every time.
Do it was your intention to have this setup? did i miss something.
Or was the controller offset just build in for extra, and was it really the controller on the drivers spot what you had in mind?

SyncViewS

05 May 2008, 08:43 AM

Hi Diependaal, you're the very first to give me some feedback about IC.Face, thank you, and sorry for the delay in my reply.

The behavior you're describing is right. The center for every transformation of each Knot is its local coordinate system (Knot_LCS). Every controller is meant to determine only the amount of transformation to drive its wired Knots. It doesn't really matter where it is placed or its pivot position. The stretchy bones net must be built just under the model surface. The Offset Control in Z feature automatically place the Control outside the model surface, to make easier management and selection. The best way to control it is by setting the transform gizmo to Local coordinate space.

The logic behind this setup is that each Control drives one or more than one Knot, with different degrees of influence, so you can have very soft and natural skin movements. Controls can't therefore be the center of rotations. In "human" anatomy - I mean no tentacles, proboscis, and so on - face skin and muscles just slide over the skull. Rotations occur around the mouth, along the upper and lower lips only. The rest of the face can be managed with Knots shifts that stretch and compress the skin. If the compression causes a significant loss of volume, you can set the bones stretch type to "Squash", rather than "Scale".

Wirings between Controls and Knots can be crossed. It is possible to have different "Layers" for motion control: from the first that drives major changes with few Controls shifting many Knots, to the last with a single Control for every Knot, to fine tune every expression.

In addition to the bones net, the most important thing in this setup is the orientation of each Knot (given by Knot_LCS to be accurate) that is chosen after Knot System creation, before linking Drivers to Knot. It can be changed at any time by transforming to zero every Control wired to it, unlinking, orienting and linking again. This orientation determines the Knot shift direction and so the stretchy bones net deformation. To get consistent results, the Z-Axis of each Knot System should point outward, roughly perpendicular to the surface mesh and Y-Axis should be oriented roughly up. Consider that each model has its own right setup, try one then tweak it until you find what gives best deformations.

To make it clearer, I've just added in IC.Face documentation (http://www.illusioncatalyst.com/ic_face_ref.html) a sample image of my rigged dragon, in "Illustrated How To... (http://www.illusioncatalyst.com/ic_face_ref.html#HowTo)" section. It's half head to be more readable. You can see how I set up the bones net, how Knots are are oriented, and a sample of Control->Knots wirings.

To understand terms used about IC.Face elements, please refer to "Terminology (http://www.illusioncatalyst.com/ic_face_ref.html#Terminology)" section in IC.Face documentation.

I hope I made myself understood. It's harder to explain than to do.
Good luck for your graduation. :)

Diependaal

05 May 2008, 09:05 AM

Thanks for your reply,
so you say, your setup is meant to be for the controller to move not locally when rotating it?
whenits placed outside the bone chain?

I was hoping to get it like pauls setup http://paulneale.com/3Dimages/ogre/facialRig/ogreFaceRig.htm

The controls outside the face, with rotation going around itself, so you dont rotate your dcontroller away, it will dissapear into the face than, when you rotate to much.

SyncViewS

05 May 2008, 09:51 AM

Hi Diependaal,
IC.Face setup works like Paul Neale's. It is based on the same principles and control chain. Paul's "Controls" rotate relative to their "Knots" too, you can see it in the Ogre image from the rotated Control in the middle of the lower lip. If you apply rotation wiring to the lips Knots, it shouldn't be a problem since the Control can rotate inside the mouth. This choice is tied to the transform control chain built upon parameter wiring and hierarchy linking between Control and Knot. You can find more details in IC.Face documentation. I hope this won't disappoint you. During the animation process you can filter the selections in 3ds Max to pick Shapes only, since Controls are Shapes makes easier to manage them.

i have read all your docs, but cant find anything on the rotation of the control object, want to know what i need to do, to let it rotate the bones propperly, but let the control object rotate around its own axis.

i thought it maybe would be some mistake i made, but if its your intention, than what do i need to skip in your script, the whole wiring different?

Edit, see what you mean, with the ima e of paul's rig, but on his dvd its local roation.
thought i could get that with your script as well.

SyncViewS

05 May 2008, 10:21 AM

Hi Diependaal,
you made no mistakes. It is not actually possible to make the Control rotate around its own center and drive Knots rotations. I can't figure out on the spot how to modify the script to make it work as you say, if possible. I'm sorry.

As a side note, about your screenshot, before creating drivers, be sure that bones on the mirror plane (passing through the center of the face) overlap. I'm talking about what it seems to be the middle of the upper lip, where three drivers position mismatches.

Diependaal

05 May 2008, 11:48 AM

I noticed when following your guide, for making a second controll to be influenced by the first, you say follow step 5 to 9.

That should be 4 to 9, because with no root selected, its not possible to create a knot with your script.

Also when made some main controllers, if you want to ad some that move x% with the main, you cant just click driver to be controller by a main. it has to be active, and all slots need to be green , to be able to get it wired.

But there is no way to get it active, that i see, just making another knot on the main controller etc, so its active, and can hookup another to it.

Your script is very straight forward, but when it comes to linking more controllers to each other, it could be helpfull to just have a button for making a control active, so you can change its settings.

i know it works with selecting its root again, its drivers and the controller.
but first i thought it would brake the thing if i did that.

So i think it would be best if you just have a button for it, that when you select something, it evaluates it, so you can change its proppertys without having to select all the parts again. caus it;s easy to forget its root for example.

Mirroring, works with the knot, but when trying to mirror the control, the script get stuck, and max gives beeps, until i shut the script down.

SyncViewS

05 May 2008, 05:48 PM

Hi Diependaal,
first and foremost, thank you for pointing out the mirroring bug. You're right, it was a last minute change before release and slipped through the test stage. It is now fixed and will be included in IllusionCatalyst 1.1. I'm actually working on the new version and it should be ready in some days. If you need the fix now, please write me an email through the IllusionCatalyst website, and I'll provide you the file to overwrite.

In IC.Face documentation I wrote to go through steps form 5 to 9 because after setting the first connection, the Root is supposed to be still active. The paragraph explains how to "Connect more Knots to one Control", not more Drivers to one Control, this implies Knots must be created and Drivers linked to them before establishing the connection with Controls. The best way to proceed is:
1- Create the full bones net
2- Create all the Drivers for each bone chain
3- Create and orient all Knots and link Drivers to them
4- Create Controls where needed and set up connections with one or more Knots

If you want to modify the connection influence multiplier between Control and Knot, you need at least select one Control and one Knot, it is not required to pick the Root too. They need to be "activated" through the IC.Face interface pickbuttons, it's not as fast as normal selection, but cannot be avoided, since some parameters need to be read. Every element, Root, Driver, Controls, can be freely picked without possibility of failure.

Thank you for your effort in learning and using IC.Face. Let me know if you need the fix right now.

Diependaal

05 May 2008, 08:22 PM

Allready did it by hand, so no worrys, wont be doing a new face setup in a few days, so ill wait for the new release :)

Thanks for the quick replys and being on top of the bugs.

joshpurple

05 May 2008, 02:05 AM

Wow! Thank You Enrico! Brilliant work! I look forward to learning it & working with it :applause: .
More power to you!

gulio

06 June 2008, 03:23 PM

First of all, thanks for the new version which I´ve just installed. The first thing apparent to me is, that scrolling the window is now possible :thumbsup:but only when the floating window is been docked. The docking of the window is only possible on the right hand side of the editor window which "cost" some of the editor window space:sad:. I´ve tried to resize my complete Max window, which is running on a dual screen system, and Max crashed. But, anyway I´m eager to test it and surely respond when I´ll find some pros or cons.

Psotek

09 September 2008, 05:43 AM

Hey I am wondering if there is a way to get Illusion Catalyst running on older versions of Max. I am using Max 7 at work for pipeline reasons and am looking for something that has the ability to add/remove entire edgeloops as quickly as IC does.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

-Bartek

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